VISITOR HITS...

I have been waiting this week for my visitor hits to go over 23, 000 and I am finally there to mark the occasion I will be posting a blog candy at the end of the evening that will run for a week - check back later x
and thanks for keeping visiting! Debbix

exciting news...

The new design team for cards galore was announced today and I am so excited to be one of them - cannot wait for the challenges and to get inky! I hope you will join us in the challenges and get inky too! x
My fellow DT members are:

Debbi
Marlene
Eileen
Lexi
Michelle
Angela
Isobelle
Rachael

Denyse  APOLOGIES for missing you x

The first challenge I will complete will be in March... However you can still join in at the moment black and red is the theme two colours I love together x
thanks for looking - Debbi (very excited!)

distressing - challenge 10

I love distressing and nearly always add some for of it on my cards whether it be by ripping, filing or using colour! So I found this challenge right up my street...
I decided to use my new hostess set which I can tell will be a firm favourite with me so simple to use buut very effective and even if it is not perfect the effect is very striking! for me that works well ;-)

I used a whisper white card blank for this card and added strips of certainly celery and rose red card stock to the card the card and the panels all had distressed edges. I then stamped the image in basic black and the the two step stamping bit of the image was done in certainly celery, rose red and pretty in pink. To add the colour to the stamp I used markers as the image to be stamped was quite small. I then daubed the edges of the panel and distressed them with my cutting tool. I off set the image on the card blank and stamped the sentiment into the right hand side of the card. I added three pearls to the left hand side of the card I think that they look very effective. I have included a close up picture of the distressed edges to the card.
I hope you like my card and thanks for looking! Debbi x

red and black

The challenge this week was to create a card that was red and black - I love these colours together and have created a card for my friend that loves Betty Boo and this one! I have used a black card blank something that I don't do very often I tend to always stick to white...

So for this card I have mounted the image on real red card and then decoupaged the image in the middle to add a little depth I have attached this using dimensionals. I have then coloured the little love heart on Betty's leg to add a little colour to the image. I stamped the sentiment for you into the top left hand corner of the image and added a strip of real red card to the right hand side of the image. I have also inked the edges of the main image of the card in read red using a dauber. Even though this card is very simple I think it turned out well...
I hope you like the card and thanks for looking - Debbi

POSTCARD CHALLENGE 2012 - CHINA

This week I failed to come up with an idea until yesterday, at first I was thinking dragons abs new year and then it hit me... I love bonsai trees and in the past have owned a couple!
I decided that I would draw the tree on water colour paper and paint the image I created.
I must mention that I have not drawn anything in a very long time, art was something I really enjoyed but I didn't pick it as an option.
So once I had drawn the image I painted it in garden green and chocolate chip using an aqua marker and then mounted the image on card. I added the word China to the bottom left hand side.
On the back if the card I have written -
"
I hope you like the card and thanks for looking!
Debbi

Two Step

Here is a card that I created this morning when the house was very quiet and both my boys were safely at school and nursery... Feels weird having such a quiet house I can tell you!
I haven't done much crafting this week as I am suffering with my back, I am in a lot of pain and to sit and craft for a couple of hours is something I am struggling with at the minute... However I managed to use one of my new stampsets this morning and have created this card - Simply Soft, this is one of the hostess benefits from the current catalogue - want to learn more on how to earn this set send me an email!

For this card I used the colours rose red, so saffron and certainly celery - I have used a whisper white card blank.
I layered rose red and certainly celery card and added to this a whisper white panel on which I stamped the outline of the flowers for the petal colour I used my markers to shade the petals and the stamped them slightly off centre to where they should be placed - I think that this adds depth to the flowers. I have just used a marker to colour the leaves and stamped the sentiment in rose red also. On the close up of the flowers you will see that they are not placed exactly another thing I love about two step stamping there is no need to be exact!
I hope you like the card and thanks for looking!

SAB 2012

Hello Everyone!
Well it is that time again in the SU calender that we await every year - Sale-A-Bration... So what is on offer this year?? There are 4 great exclusive stampsets to chose from and also for the first time a beautiful set of designer papers...

• For every £45.00 that you spend you will earn a free stampset for the sale-a-bration promotion
• Each hostess that earns £300 from their event will earn an extra sale-a-bration set
• Every new demonstrator that signs up in the sale-a-bration promotion will earn another stampset of any value from the mini or the main catalogue FREE

Take a look here:

If you would like more information on signing up as a demonstrator email me - debbitaylor76@googlemail.com. For £119 the starter kit is great value as you receive products worth £250 and don't forget that sign during sale-a-bration you can chose another stampset of any value to add to your kit...

POSTCARD CHALLENGE 2012! the postcard...

So I had posted the card front on Friday but had not written the the back with the continuation of the story on so apologies after a busy weekend here is the next bit...
It reads...
ANNIE,
HERE I AM IN BRAZIL! YOU WOULD LOVE IT HERE, THE COLOURS ARE SO VIBRANT.
IT SEEMS LIKE A ANOTHER LIFETIME THAT WE WERE TOGETHER.
DO YOU THINK THAT WE COULD MEET AGAIN??
YOURS TEDDY XXX
I don't really know where my story will take the characters of Annie and Teddy and will be honest I don't know what I am going to write on the cards until I sit down with the card in front of me! So lets see where this story will lead together!
I cannot wait until we find out tomorrow where the next country will be!
Thanks for looking Debbi x

POSTCARD CHALLENGE 2012!

For week 3 of this great challenge we were given the country Brazil... I have to be honest right from the start I was stumped! I had no idea what I would include on my card and how it would turn out. I kept looking at Brazil and researching fact pages about the country and its traditions - one thing that did keep coming up was carnivals and there were a couple of people that commented on a post I had put on our group with the same theme.
Carnival it is then!

I had already created the background for this weeks card earlier in the week hoping that would in some way inspire me... For this I took the colours pumpkin pie, rose red and daffodil yellow and sponged a piece of whisper white card, I then inked the edges of this with black. Once I had finished this I then screwed up a card bag and randomly stamped shimmer paint in silver onto this and then inked the edges in black
The main image of my card was a mask which I borrowed the stamp off my friend Sam and stamped one in black on whisper white and one on black card that was white embossed. I sponged the one on white card in the same colours and then added glitter to the image - once this was dry I cut the image in half and glued it to the edge of the card the right eye to the left and left to the right handside. Over the top of this using dimensionals I attached the black mask also decorated using glitter.
I hope you like the postcard I have in the end loved making! Debbi xxx

notebook!

I have covered very few notebooks even though they are something that I use all the time and always have one knocking about the house as one as one in my handbag! They are something I usually do as gifts for people and do a matching card to go with them - but recently I haven't even done this... So today I decided that I would cover a book to go with my postcard challenge stuff as I am writing notes for both the story and the cards that I am creating...
I took one of the cheap notebooks and created a front cover for it. First of all covering it with whisper white card I then added a piece of spotted DSP to this, on top of the DSP I added another piece of whisper white that I have wheeled with very vintage in real red and then stamped with the retired background stamp (which I still love) in basic grey and inked all the edges in real red. I then made a panel for the left handside of real red card trimmed with basic black - this is textured card - you cannot tell from the picture and made a little label with the stamp from notably ornate. I have added some ribbon strips to the wire binding for the notepad.

I hope you like my card and thanks for looking! Debbi

Brayering...

For those of you that know me you will know that I feared my brayer for many months and the fact that it lay in a drawer unopened for many months is not an exaggeration! However I have overcome my fear in the last couple of weeks and begun to practice and have some fun with my new crafty friend... The background of the postcard I created was just the beginning... Last night I decided to play with my brayer once again and create a sunset background to use with a lovely as a tree and to create a one layer card (something that i very rarely do as I always layer everything but I didn't think that this card needed it.. I hope you agree!
The colours that I have chosen to use are old olive, daffodil delight, pumpkin pie and real red. I have graduated that brayering in sections up the card and then staped the tress over the top of this in black staz on. I have stamped the sentiment from a hostess set in the top right hand corner and inked the edges of the card. I have mounted this panel on a card blank.
I hope you like my card and thanks for looking - Debbi xxx

POSTCARD CHALLENGE 2012!

So today's country is Spain and I have created a card that shows the famous Spanish dance flemenco... For my card I have brayered the background in real red, pumpkin and daffodil yellow. I used to be so scared of picking up a brayer and now with a practiced hand I find it a lot easier - less is more! The graduation of the colour on the card is very subtle. I then mounted this on a piece of basic black card and then again on the white blank postcard...
For the main image of the card I used a black and white flemenco dancer as I feel this is more stiking than a coloured image. In the folds of the skirt I added some very tiny pearls to add detail to the dress and I like that effect that this creates.
So where is our penpal story taking us today??
I have decided not to structure the story too much in my head and let their relationship develop along with their friendship as we travel through the countries! So Annie is writing from Spain and it was a chance meeting that saw the couple meet and once again become penpals after many years...

I hope you like my card and thanks for looking! Debbi x

POSTCARD CHALLENGE 2012!

So I have been working on this weeks postcard from Spain that will be posted to my blog tomorrow morning and will continue the story of Teddy and Annie... I also wanted to have somewhere to keep the postcards once I had made them that was seperate from the rest of my card making things... I have been looking at envelope books as somewhere to keep them and although I have made one before it was many years ago and not on the scale of what I need now - being a home to 52 cards!
I started with a base of basic grey card and this was consertined to house 26 envelopes that I would keep the cards in...







Once I had consertined the card I began to stick envelopes to it using tombow glue - this is VERY sticky and by the end you guessed it I was covered!

Once I had completed this I added a spine to the consertina and bone folded each of the seams where the envelopes were placed as you can imagine again I was covered in glue!

I created two covers for the book and I wheeled them with the very vintage wheel in real red and then randomly stamped the postcard stamp over the top of this in black... I love the effect that this gives and am pleased with the outcome - I was hoping to find an atlas in the local charity shop but was out of luck (I think that this works well though)

Here is the finished book... I cannot wait to make some more postcards to put in it... Spain's is already completed! I hope you like it and thanks for looking! Debbi x

A Tribute to a very Special Friend...

Over the past few months you will have seen several posts on my blog that relate to my friend that was suffering a very rare type of cancer that was basically kicking her arse and causing her to meet each day with a battle - which she did so bravely and with such strength that I will forever remember and admire her grit and determination.
Her husband Mat was the guy that was growing his beard for the whole of 2012 - again I posted the link to his beardathon which was targeted to help raise £10,000 for the amazing hospice in our local area Willow Wood which Joanie used on a regular basis for respite and to also continue her love of card making!
Sadly Joanie lost her fight in the early hours of 11th December and although heaven gained a very special angel that day the world became slightly darker - another fabulous person taken from us whilst suffering so much pain from Cancer.
So whilst my creative juices have not really been flowing as they normally would over the last few weeks I have taken some time to create these cards that I have dedicated to a very special friend... I was also going to take some up to Willow Wood to donate them so that they could sell them if they thought they could and I am also going to donate some of the bits and pieces that I no longer use to the weekly classes that they do up there to help the people that get so much joy from them!

Joan's surname was swift so each of the cards that I have created is swift themed... The set that I have used is Notably Ornate - I hope you like my cards an thanks for looking! Debbi xxx

POSTCARD CHALLENGE 2012!

So I took the decision LATE last night to join in this challenge even though I have had an extremely busy weekend and was working today so could not craft! I have developed my characters properly yet, they just have names and were penpals that many years ago lost touch and they have once again found each other... The back of the postcard needs some work, but the stamp I have used to create the card is from the stamp set winter post... What a great way to get some use of a Christmasy set!

Needless to say after my tea was finished I got inky
The first country in this challenge was Austria and I decided to create a postcard using the Austrian flag as the background of my card and decoupaged a hand drawn and watercolored Edelweiss...
I used marina mist water colour pen and an aqua brush to create the flower petals and I also used daffodil delight for the centre of the card with some screwed up tissue paper in the centre!
I hope you like the postcard and thanks for looking! Happy Crafting...
Debbi x
I apologise for the dark picture I will exchange it in the morning!

Yippee some crafting finished!

So over the last couple of days I have managed to get inky and finished the birthday cards that I had started for my eldest on Saturday!
For both these cards I decided to use a stamp set that I hadn't even mounted and just use a couple of different stamps for each of the cards that I was creating...
For the first card I chose to use the colour pacific point with the balloon from party this way! I have also stamped Josh's name on the card I have added sine buttons to the left hand side of the card to add a little colour!
For the second card I used the candle stamp and the colours tempting turquoise and cherry cobbler...
I hope you like them and thanks for looking!
Back later with some more crafting! x

ABSENCE...

So after making a good start at beginning to post regularly life once again got in the way and I was unable to spend much time crafting or much time posting, one of the reasons I will explain in a later post today. I am determined today to take the time to craft and complete two projects that I have already started and also start a third... It is surprising that however much I love crafting it always seems to slip down the priority list when life gets a bit hectic and although it may seem a little selfish one of my goals for this year is to intend that that doesn't happen... Of course to maintain this I have to make sure that the rest of our lives are organised - it remains to be seen if I can pull this off LOL!

To give you something to read in the meantime here is a link to the new MINI CATALOGUE! Filled with some new spectacular products - I hope you enjoy! x